Skull and Shackles Gameplay Thread

[Shinigami02]

Last night in Port Peril, things were a blur. Memories of ringing laughter, wild music, rich meat, and strong alcohol, all followed by the warm, in some cases weirdly painful, embrace of darkness. Now, well, things are still dark. Several figures slowly come to in utter darkness, a vile and oily taste staining their mouths, the world around them seeming to tilt, shift, and creak as if they were still drunk. As awareness gradually drifts back into them, two things immediately become clear:

First, this definitely didn't seem like the tavern.

Second, everything except the clothes on their back, even their armor, was missing.



[[Everyone make a Wisdom, Intelligence, or Sailing Lore check, please.

Also if you are Trained in Crafting, you can make a Crafting check too.]]

[leonathemoth]

"Damnit! Did I get robbed again?" A large gnoll female says upon waking up with a head ache. She quickly pats herself down and sighs happily, "Thank the gods they didn't take those..."

[Ferret]

A young halfling woman groans as she sits up, holding her head. "Ugh, what the fuck did I drink last night? I don't even like nutmeg."

[Sawblader]

A soft whimper comes from a human woman across the room, followed by the sounds of sputtering.  "...What--where?" she croaks feebly.  "What happened?  Where--pbth!" The sound of fabric brushing against skin can be heard as she wipes her lips, followed by an uneasy groan.  "...Taggit oil?"

[Perci]

Unfurling herself from a nest of black furred tails in the corner, a kitsune tries to stagger to her feet, only to lose her footing again almost immediately, grumbling a couple swears in Tien, then switches to Common; "Oh, come on, I know I drank a lot but it can't have been that much..."

She checks her pockets, but comes up empty, "Any chance any of you know what happened here? I was here to meet someone, but that never happened, apparently."

[AgreeableChap]

Rubbing the sleep out of his good eye, a stark-naked goblin with stringy black hair and horrible, puckered burns covering the left half of his face and neck peers around the dark space groggily. "We headed for Absalom?" he croaks before flopping back down on the moldy straw covering the floor.

[lapis-lazily]

Amira sits against one of the walls of the room peering out into utter darkness. Even as good as her eyes are in low light conditions, she can't pick up anything but the faintest of silhouettes stirring to life. She listens quietly as each awakens, assessing the situation. Weaponless, armorless, left in some kind of dark room. She doesn't understand the rocking, but she recognizes the oily taste. She feels the back of her head where pain still radiates out. Last thing she remembers is scrapping with the pirates trying to seize the merchant vessel she was supposed to protect. So much for that payday.

"The taste in your mouths is oil of taggit. Consumable knockout poison. I must have been slipped some while I was out to make sure I didn't wake up too soon. As for the rest of you, probably got it slipped in your drinks or something.  Judging by my last memories being of fighting a nasty pirate crew aboard a merchant vessel, I'd say we're their captives. Likely, we're either in the hold of a ship or held in some dank, dockside basement. Are any of you worth anything to someone? If so this is probably for ransom. If we're a bunch of nobodies, this is probably a pressganging."

[leonathemoth]

"Well, last thing I remember is fighting some dudes....maybe they got a lucky punch. As for worth, only to my wife really and we're pretty poor." The gnoll shrugs, "Anyway, I'm Yew"

[Sawblader]

Vision still swimming, the human woman tries to sit upright, but the swaying of the floor disorients her.  "'Press...?'" she repeats, clearly still in a fugue.  "N-no that... that can't be right.  I was... I was in the Maid listening... there was a story, but..." she trails off, struggling to recollect herself.

[AgreeableChap]

"What's pressganging?" Dug asks. "Is it why they took my clothes?"

[Ferret]

"Ugh... fucking pirates," the halfling groans. "Shoulda known this would happen eventually. That's the last time I accept a drink from a dude with dreads in his beard."

[lapis-lazily]

Amira sighs. ”Right. We’re nobodies. Any minute now some asshole is gonna burst into this room and tell us all we’re going to become pirates. For your own sakes do what they say and don’t mouth off. It’s only going to make this worse. We may get a chance at revenge later, but right now we’re at their mercy.”

[Shinigami02]

Almost as if on cue, a trapdoor in the ceiling flies open, rays of lantern light proving almost blinding after the near-total darkness of the hold. With the air-splitting crack of a whip, a tall figure with a bulky leather coat descends the ladder, glints of gold coming from his almost pained excuse for a grin. Behind him trails six rough sailors, carrying saps haphazardly as they descend the ladder.

"Still abed with the sun over the yardarm?" The figure says as his feet hit the deck, lashing out with the whip still in his hand to punctuate the sentence. "On yer feet, ye filthy swabs! Get yer worthless selves up on deck and report for duty ere Cap'n Harrigan flays yer flesh fer Fishguts to fry as bacon!"

[leonathemoth]

Yew shrugs, "Guess this is life for a while then"

[lapis-lazily]

Amira stands up, gritting her teeth. ”Sometimes I hate being right,” she mutters under her breath. Nevertheless she does as the man commands.

[Sawblader]

The crack of the whip jolts the human upright, recoiling at the sudden assault of light and sound.  While scrambling to her feet, she gracelessly stumbles back down to the floor as her feet slip against the musty straw bedding.  Her eyes, an unassuming brown now illuminated in the lantern light, are wide in fear in confusion, and her auburn hair a frazzled mess with strands swaying erratically as she frantically tries to stand.

[Shinigami02]

As the woman slumps against the wall, the tall pirate cracks his whip again, his smile turning to an irritated sneer. As she struggles to stand, he snaps his fingers twice and points at her, prompting one of the sap-wielding pirates behind him, a tall Rahadoumi man with a bandanna wrapped around his bald head, to rush forward and roughly 'help' her to her feet.

"Anyone else need assistance following orders, or can we be on our way?" He demands, his eyes starting to glance over the others. As they fall on the naked goblin though, he visibly recoils. Glancing over the crates around him, he reaches into one and pulls out a length of cloth, tossing it at Dug. "And by the Gods, cover yerself before the sun hits ye," he orders, before turning and starting back up the ladder. "I swear, when I find out what idiot left the goblin naked, I'm pers'n'lly givin' em the Cat," He can be heard saying as he walks.

[AgreeableChap]

Dug scrambles to his feet at the crack of the whip, looking around at the rest of the prisoners.

They really just going along with this? he thinks, unconsciously flexing his long fingers. Wonder if I still have my powers...

"Wha'm'I s'posed to do with this?" he calls indignantly up the trapdoor hole.

[lapis-lazily]

Amira bonks Dug lightly on the head as she heads for the ladder. ”Wrap it around your waist, you moron. No one here wants to see your goblin bits flying around in the breeze,” she says before making her way up onto the deck.

[AgreeableChap]

Dug looks down in confusion before experimentally wrapping the piece of cloth around his waist, at which point his ear perks up. "Ohhhhhhhhh."

[Perci]

Higanbana pulls herself to her feet much more stably on the second attempt, "Finding a ship was part of the plan, just not like this. Can make it work, I guess." She heads up to the deck next.

[leonathemoth]

Yew climbs up on deck and takes a deep breath, taking in the salty sea air. "Better than sleeping in a brig all day"

[Sawblader]

The man gruffly wrenches the human to her feet, though her footing is noticeably unsteady as the pirate takes his abrupt leave.  Visibly overwhelmed, the woman hesitates before sheepishly following this misfit assembly up the stairs.

[Ferret]

"Still abed, like they didn't drug us," the halfling grumbles, following up to the deck.

[Shinigami02]

As the lot and their escort make it to the main deck, it becomes apparent that they are on a fairly sizeable ship, quite a ways into open water. Looking towards the stern one might just barely be able to make out a haze that might be the mainland, but if it is it's many miles in the distance.

They don't have the time to try to look though, as their escort abandons them in the midst of a crowd of people, the six followers disappearing into the crowd while the main figure strolls up another ladder towards the foredeck. Looking around the crowd, it's also quite noticeable that their lot aren't the only newbies to the crew, as 4 other individuals stick out as noticeably cleaner, and less comfortable, than the rest: A woman with fiery red-hair and a tricorn bearing a seagull feather, who seems quite at home on the rocking ship; an angry-looking halfling with elegant clothes and a long red scarf, currently conversing with another crewmate and from what you can hear cursing every few words or so; a tall man near the rail with burning eyes, a blue scarf over a shaved head, and a look like he desperately wanted to stab several of the people around him; and a gnome with a whirling mustache and a foppish purple hat actively, and poorly, hitting on multiple female crewmembers.

There's not much time to do more than look though, as a moment later a gunshot can be heard from the foredeck. Stepping to the bannister are three men. On the left, the same whip-wielding man who lead the party to collect the lot of you from the cargo hold, once again bearing that facial expression that could be severe pain, could also be a smile. In the better light you can see that the greasy man has a long, black beard with several thick dreadlock-like braids in it. To the right, a man, slightly older than the other, balding but maintaining a long black ponytail, wearing a naval longcoat and carrying a seemingly well-worn cat-o-nine-tails. And in the center, radiating an aura of menace as he holsters his still-smoking pistol, can only be the Captain. A Garundi man older than either of the officers flanking him, the captain is tall, broad, and very muscular. His head is shaved, his long black beard is bound by gold rings, and a battered eyepatch covers one scarred eye above his scowl. A moment later though that scowl turns to an even more menacing smile.

"Welcome, one and all, to the fine ship Wormwood. Now, since we have some new recruits, I should introduce myself. I am Barnabas Harrigan. Captain Barnabas Harrigan, not that you should ever need to address me. Now, I have three rules." The Captain squints at the crowd, but each of you feels as if his one eye is peering directly at you as he talks.

"Rule One: Don't talk to me. If I want your opinion, I'll bloody well give it to you. If you have issues, sort them out yourselves, and if that's not possible, take it up with my Bosun, Master Scourge." As he talks, he motions to the man who collected you. "If, for some reason, he proves inadequate, you can approach my First Mate, Mr. Plugg," At this he indicates the other man, with the naval coat and ponytail. "If you come to me, and it isn't of the utmost importance, I'll have you keelhauled, if I don't just shoot you myself." As if to punctuate the sentence, he pats the pistol he'd just holstered.

"Rule Two: Don't steal from me. I don't give a rat's ass if you steal from each other, that's your problem, but if you steal from me, I'll have you keelhauled. If those of you who've been here longer than our new bloods may notice, Magpie isn't here. He broke this rule, and is currently sweating down in the bilges. He's due for tonight's Bloody Hour, and it should be a bloody good time!" The captain laughs, and his officers and a few scattered crewmates awkwardly laugh as well. The laughter all cuts off at once as Harrigan turns his attention back to the crowd though.

"And rule number three: Absolutely no killing. Even with all these new recruits, we're still short-handed around here, and I aim to keep what crew I've got. So if you kill anyone, I'll keelhaul you, and then for good measure I'll keelhaul you again. Mr. Plugg!" At his shout the balding First Mate steps forward. "If you'd be so kind as to make pirates out of this bunch of landlubbers, it'll save me having to put them in the sweatbox for a year and a day before I make pies out of them!" With that the Captain starts laughing again as he casually steps onto the bannister, steps off it to land easily on his feet on the deck below, and vanishes into a door below the foredeck. As the rest of the crew around you starts to clear out to their individual duties, the First Mate steps to the bannister and looks down at the six of you, smiling cruely.

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